Hazmat crews are cleaning up and the Maryland Department of Environment is responding after a huge fire at a quarry in Rockville, Maryland, quarry.
Black smoke from the fire could be seen from miles around. Anyone within a mile of the quarry was advised by Montgomery County Fire & Rescue to limit their outdoor activity.
The fire at the quarry on Piney Meetinghouse Road began before noon. Several tanks went up in flames, causing huge columns of black smoke to shoot up into the air.
“Three large tanks — motor oil and two tanks of liquid asphalt — that were on fire,” fire department spokesman Pete Piringer said.
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The fire required a massive response, and units reported flames coming close to other tanks.
Chopper4 footage showed flames and thick black smoke coming from tanks. Several residential neighborhoods are nearby, but fire officials said the fire was contained to the quarry.
No injuries were reported, and “there is no danger to the immediate communities,” fire officials said in a statement. Parts of the quarry were evacuated. No evacuation order or shelter-in-place order was issued.
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The fire quickly was contained but was not extinguished until after 6 p.m. Officials brought in additional resources, including foam.
Piringer said people in the area should use caution about being outdoors.
“This was a fairly remote area on a very large industrial complex," he said. "n"No homes were in danger of any fire or explosion throughout this ordeal. We did monitor the smoke conditions, and our advice to the area residents was to treat this as a bad pollution day.”
The air quality is being monitored, officials said.
“We don’t know of any hazards, per se, but it is smoky,” Piringer said
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An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
